TIMO RUOTTINEN (b.1947): Missa Popularis.

Description: Like progressive rock? This is the Mass for you! Ruottinen composed this work in 1968-69, the era of the Peace movement protesting Vietnam, the Prague Spring, the horrifying civil war in Biafra. A full setting of the Ordinary of the Mass, in Latin, the piece is written in the musical idioms familiar to the Woodstock and Hippie generation, the choir and soloists accompanied by the instrumentation of rock music of the time - amplified guitar and bass, drums, Hammond organ, Minimoog synthesizer and sitar - faithfully reproduced in this new recording, with a 24-track analogue tape recorder used for multi tracking. If your tastes run to the likes of King Crimson, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Beach Boys, Supertramp or Genesis with some degree of funky Afro-American, Caribbean influence, Reggae and jazz grafted on for good measure, and about as much Baroque harmony and figuration as rock bands of the time were wont to interject fleetingly as a passing taste of the exotic world of ‘classical' music (vide: Jethro Tull), then this is likely to appeal. Unsurprisingly, the piece received opprobrium and approbation in roughly equal proportion when it first appeared; now you can hear it and judge for yourself which it deserves. Ruanjai, The New Segment Orchestra.